The Lorenz attractor displays chaotic behavior. These two plots demonstrate sensitive dependence on initial conditions within the region of phase space occupied by the attractor. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Your life is boring. Everyday you wake up to the same routine and fail to avoid the people you can’t stand. You want to spice up your life but are too lazy for any major changes. I understand. But what if I told you it doesn’t take much at all? Stay awhile and learn how the butterfly effect can work wonders for you.

In Chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions. In other words: if you cough, somewhere in the universe a planet will explode. That may or may not be an exaggeration, but the bottom line is that if you tweak something small, it will eventually have a big impact. Edward Lorenz, who coined the term, used the example of a hurricane’s formation being dependent on a butterfly flapping its wing. Hence the name butterfly effect. But be honest, an exploding planet sounds a lot better.

So let’s examine how the butterfly effect can change your life for the better. First of all we should describe what could be a normal day in your life, after which we will see where the tiniest of changes will lead to.

It’s 6:00 AM. You get up, get dressed, brush your teeth, have breakfast and leave for work. You take the bus, sit down next to someone who’s asleep and read a newspaper until you get out after five stops. You arrive at work, where no one ever appreciates what you do, which is the same thing you always do before going home with a headache. Oddly enough you have no money to go out, even though you work all week to earn money, so you stay in, have a meal and watch tv. Sounds about right? I would hate my life too. Now let’s make one small change.

It’s 6:00 AM. You get up, get dressed, brush your teeth, have breakfast and leave for work. You take the bus, sit down next to someone who’s asleep and decide to wake him up so he won’t miss his stop. He thanks you and gets off at the next stop. You read your newspaper, get off at your stop and arrive at work. Just after lunch, your boss calls you into his office. He tells you the competitor just landed a mega deal thanks to their sales agent (who arrived on time), with a client your company desperately needed. Because of this, your boss is now forced to cut costs and that means you have to go. Because of the shock you trudge back to the bus stop and miss the bus. Suddenly a car crashes on the intersection which means there will be no more busses for at least a couple of hours. A cat comes by and hisses at you, making an old lady think you hurt the poor thing, and she starts to beat you with her bag. You sit down in defeat with your face in your hands, right underneath a bird that leaves you a little gift on your head.

Isn’t the butterfly effect wonderful? At least we know it’s totally random and will not make your life better in any way. What was the point of this post again?